Iolanthe

Iolanthe Иолантхе
Flag Coat of arms
Motto: Нашето верно срце (Iolanic) Our faithful heart (Osynstric) Fideli nostro corde (Umbrial)
Capital and largest city	Lucilin
Official languages	Iolanic, Osynstric, and Umbrial
Demonym(s)	Iolanthi
Government	Parliamentary constitutional monarchy
• Grand Duke	Vittorio
• Viceroy	Paulo, Duke of Costanza
• Prime Minister	Kasandar Klodijan
Legislature	Kuregis
Formation
• Suavidci colony	21 CE-737 CE
• Kingdom of Iolanthe	737 CE-936 CE
• Osynstric rule	936 CE-1801
• Independence	1801
Area
• Total	9,632 km2 (3,719 sq mi)
Population
• 2018 census	936,116
• Density	97.1/km2 (251.5/sq mi)
GDP (nominal)	2018 estimate
• Total	93.968 billion IBU
• Per capita	100,380 IBU
HDI (2019)	0.916 very high
Currency	Iolanthi denar (ден)
Time zone	SET +7
Date format	dd/mm/yyyy yyyy-mm-dd (AD)
Driving side	left
Calling code	+45
Internet TLD	.io

The Grand Duchy of Iolanthe, or simply Iolanthe is a sovereign state in Western Auroria. It is bordered by Osynstry to the west. It is culturally and economically intertwined with nearby Aurorian countries, especially Osynstry and Scalvia. Iolanthe is officially trilingual: Iolanic, Osynstric, and Umbrial.

Iolanthe is a parliamentary democracy, based on the Goyanean system, led by a constitutional monarch. The grand duke is Predice's Grand Doge Vittorio. The head of government is a prime minister elected by the unicameral Kuregis, currently Kasandar Klodijan of the Kovennanter Party. Iolanthe is one of the smallest states in the world, with only 9,632 km² of territory. It is a developed country with an advanced, high income economy. Nearly half of its population are foreign citizens.

In 21 CE, stone fort Castrum Iolanthium was built by the Imperium Suavidci. The fort settlement was mostly populated by Szlavic slaves until the Suavidci slave trade ended with the fall of the Epiphanes in 300 CE. In 737 CE, slave revolt freed Iolanthe from Suavidci rule. It became an Osynstric territory in 938. Iolanthe was renamed to "East Athersbury." Attempts to stamp out Iolanthi culture failed. The Assize of East Athersbury (1258) and the Act of Conciliation (1343) protected Iolanthi rights and granted them autonomy, the early beginnings of democracy. In 1801, a failed personal union led to Iolanthi independence. A native Iolanthi monarchy briefly existed until 1896, when a succession crisis created a new personal union with Predice. When Predice invaded Iolanthe during the Fascist War, it began its pursuit to pacifism and non-alignment. The country abolished the armed forces in 1951 and adopted unarmed neutrality.

Etymology

The Violanthi flower.

Iolanthe is a portmanteau of the Umbrial words "viola" and "lanthi." Viola means the color violet. Lanthi is a Suavidci goddess of women and love. She is the wife of Iphis, another Suavidci goddess of love. Violanthi is the national flower of Iolanthe.

The ancient Suavidci fortifications in Iolanthe was called "Castrum Iolanthium" or "Violanthi castle." The name "Iolanthe" was first used in 737 CE by Koragos when he was proclaimed "King of Iolanthe." Osynstry renamed the territory to "East Athersbury" in 1087 CE. A first in a long series of acts to assimilate the Iolanthi people. The name "Iolanthe" was restored in 1801 after independence.

History

Colony

Modern depiction of Iolanthium city center.

The Imperium Suavidci first arrived in Western Auroria in 500 BCE. In 21 CE, they built a stone fortification on Latver rock. Villages formed around it and grew into a sprawling city. It was named after the fortification, "Iolanthium." Slave trade brought thousands of Szlavic people in Iolanthium. Prison colonies were established across the settlement to provide cheap labor to the local economy. Suavidci colonial elite brought slaves to cultivate farmlands and mine ores in the outlying areas of the settlement. Iolanthium became a sizeable center of trade. As a Suavidci outpost, it was the epicenter of the Imperium's activities in Western Auroria.

Suavidci rule lasted until 737 CE. A slave revolt overthrew the Suavidci rulers and the rebel leader, Koragos, was elected "King of Iolanthe."

Kingdom of Iolanthe

Latver Castle, seat of the kings of Iolanthe.

King Koragos I oversaw the abolition of slavery in Iolanthe in 738. Suavidci aristocrats who still supported it were purged from powerful leadership roles in the established Suavidci bureaucracy. The Suavidci people were not subjected to wholesale persecution. Instead, they were acknowledged as equal subjects. Koragos kept most of the Suavidci officials. Born to Messianist slaves, Koragos invited the Courantist Church to convert the Iolanthi people in 741. In 770, a religious revolt by paganists was defeated by Koragos. Between 771-788 until his death, Koragos organized peasant mobs to find and execute apostates. His son and successor, Koragos II, banned occultism in 805 and decreed Courantism the sole Messianist faith in Iolanthe.

In 851, Hristijan III built Latver Castle in the old Suavidci fort Castrum Iolanthium. New stone walls, casemates, and batteries were also built to convert Iolanthium into a fortress city. In 867, Hristijan ordered new roads to build new outposts in the outskirts of the territory. A network of local messenger stations was also created to improve communication between Iolanthium, baronies, and villages. Hristijan extended roadbuilding to Osynstry to facilitate growing trade relations. Hristijan made Osynstric as an official language of court. He criminalized the use of Umbrial and embraced Iolanic, once known as the language of Szlavic slaves. A series of festivals to encourage the use of Iolanic during his reign became known as the "Iolanic renaissance."

The capital Iolanthe was renamed to Latver in 921. Castrum Lucilinium, a smaller fort outside of Latver, was rebuilt to improve city defense in 927.

Osynstric rule

Latver Castle, 1644.

Expensive road tolls to enter Iolanthe infuriated Osynstric traders. In 938, Osynstric king Harold II could not accept the new toll increases and invaded the Kingdom of Iolanthe. An unnamed archer slain Koragos IV the Cruel, the last Iolanthi king, in the Battle of Castrum Lucilinium. Harold legislated the Constitutions of Victory. A series of articles to formally annex Iolanthe. The kingdom was abolished, properties of the Courantist Church were seized, and Iolanic language and literature were banned. Only Umbrial will be permitted for use.

Latver Castle, the seat of the newly-created Lordship of East Athersbury, was too cramped for marcher lord Felix Morgan, 1st Earl Lucilin to navigate with his retinue. The castle town residents were evicted. The old town was replaced with a spacious garden.

In 950, Morgan renamed Latver to Lucilin. Named after the Castrum Lucilinium fort.

Between 1047-1059, the Lucilin Inquisitions rounded up underground Courantist believers. An estimated 5,000 people were burned to death in mass stake executions during this period.

By extrajudicial means, the Lordship periodically seized lands from Iolanthi barons and the landed aristocracy. Mostly, on charges of fabricated crimes. In 1258, the Assize of East Athersbury, despite the fact East Athersbury is a marcher state with high autonomy, reasserted the feudal laws of Osynstry entitled Iolanthi landowners to rights and protections.

The Act of Conciliation in 1343 granted the Lordship the right to summon a Parliament of East Athersbury. Its membership consisted of the Kuregis (old name of the Iolanthi king's council), curia magna (local barons), and curia praela (local prelates of the Osysntric Athersist religion).

In 1801, reformist King William II was sympathetic to Iolanthi nationalist sensibilities. He personally supported the passage of the Grand Duchy of Iolanthe Act. It gave independence to Iolanthe. William remained monarch as the first Iolanthi grand duke. The three-house Parliament of East Athersbury was abolished in favor of an elected, unicameral Kuregis. After William II died in 1812, the Kuregis voted to end personal union and adopted the Goyanean parliamentary system. The Kuregis appointed a baron family closely related to the old Kings of Iolanthe to reconstitute the Iolanthi monarchy.

Modern Iolanthe

Prediceans invade Iolanthe, 1941.

In 1896, a succession crisis began when Grand Duke Kasandar died childless. The Kuregis voted against the confirmation of his sibling, Prince Filipos, as the new grand duke. Kasandar is sickly and frail. His death a year later marked the end of the native line of Iolanthi kings. The Kuregis nominated and elected Kasandar's consort, Queen Maria, as the new monarch. Upon her death in 1910, the next person in line of succession was her elder brother, Grand Doge TBD. His succession was confirmed by the Kuregis. Osynstry and the Imperium Suavidci objected to the ascension of the Grand Doge. The Suavidci imperator Constantine IV proposed a referendum to elect the new monarch and offered himself as a candidate. This precipitated into the Iolanthe Crisis. Negotiations between the Predicean, Suavidci, and Predicean governments concluded the Grand Doge's position as Iolanthi head of state shall be relegated to a constitutional monarch. Iolanthe became a neutral country and foreign bases were prohibited.

At the beginning of the Fascist War in 1936, Predicean fascists installed King Alessandro of Predice. As Predicean head of state, he assumed the position of Iolanthi grand duke. The new fascist government in Antofagosta organized a secret invasion to overthrow the Iolanthi government. On 12 April 1941, the Predicean forces landed in the small coastal town of St. Levelin. The invasion force comprised 4 divisions (40,000) and an artillery battery (300). The invasion fleet, consisting of a light cruiser and 4 destroyers. The Iolanthi Grand Ducal Navy consisted of obsolete, pre-FW ships: 2 coastal defence ships and 3 monitors. The only latest ships were 14 gunboats and 13 torpedo boats. The entire Iolanthi navy was sunk by the Predicean invasion fleet. The invasion took five days and the Predicean forces defeated the 10,000-man Iolanthi Grand Ducal Guard. The Iolanthi government formally surrendered on 22 April 1941. Prince Boniface, the King's viceroy, escaped to form a government-in-exile in Scalvia.

Under Predicean occupation (1941-1950), enemy nationals were sent to internment camps set up around the countryside. The "2nd Iolanic renaissance," infamously known as the "Golema Ozmazda" (голема одмазда, lit. Great Revenge) were a series of policies that persecuted Umbrial-speakers and the Suavid-Iolanthi people. The Iolanthi Fascist Party reintroduced Iolanic as the sole official language. Umbrial was banned, businesses who used Umbrial signs were vandalized, and books written in Umbrial were ritually burned.

At the end of occupation in 1950, under the leadership of Prince Boniface as caretaker prime minister, the Kuregis voted to ban fascist and other radical parties. The Predicean monarch was kept as Iolanthi head of state. The powers of the Grand Duke were significantly reduced. All political associations of the Iolanthi monarch were either removed or transferred to the prime minister. The Grand Duke is no longer Iolanthi commander-in-chief and he cannot enter the country without the permission of the Kuregis.

In 1951, the Iolanthi Grand Ducal Forces were abolished. Border protection and peacetime military services were absorbed by the Iolanthi National Police, re-organized as a gendarmerie force.

Government and politics

Government Complex, Lucilin. Latver Castle in the background.

Iolanthe is a full democracy. It has a multi-party parliament, modelled after the Goyanean system, and features a purely ceremonial monarch. Because sovereignty resides in the people, legislative power is invested in the Kuregis, a unicameral parliament. It is elected every five years by first-past-the-post constituencies. Executive power is exercised by a prime minister, who is head of the party that has the majority of seats in Kuregis, or at least has the confidence of other parties to achieve a majority. The prime minister, as the ultimate executive authority, is head of the armed forces. He enforces the law as chief executive, appoints the ministers and judges, and summons and dissolves the Kuregis.

Kasandar Klodijan, leader of the Kovennanter Party, is the prime minister. Damjan Apolonarij, leader of the Manifestira Party, is the opposition leader.

The Grand Duke, as symbolic head of state, presides over the ceremonies to appoint the prime minister and the chief justice of the supreme court. He also has other roles such as receiving foreign ambassadors and conferring honors, among other ceremonial functions. The prime minister can choose to delegate his responsibilities, only ceremonial functions, to the monarch. The Grand Duke can only enter the country if approved by a bill voted in a Kuregis sitting. The Grand Duke has to nominate a person, designated by cabinet, for the appointment of the Viceroy of Iolanthe. The viceroy is the monarch's representative in the country.

Judicial authority is exercised by the Supreme Court of Iolanthe. All its 13 justices are nominated by the Kuregis and appointed by the prime minister. After the High Court and the Court of Appeals were abolished in 1945, the Supreme Court became the ultimate judicial authority in civil, criminal, administrative, and constitutional matters.

Demographics

Languages

Iolanic, Osynstric, and Umbrial are co-official languages of Iolanthe. However, despite their equal status, Umbrial is no longer offered as a basic subject in the national curriculum. Since 1950, under the Official Languages Act, Umbrial is only acknowledged as an "optional language of our Suavidci heritage." It is only taught in specific schools, mostly private institutions. Iolanic is the primary language of Iolanthi everyday life and Osynstric is the secondary language. Official government business mainly use Iolanic and Umbrial as spoken languages. Iolanic and Osynstric are the preferred written languages. But public announcements and road signage are in Iolanic, Osynstric, and Umbrial. Advertisers also use all three.

The Iolanic language has its own writing script, the Luceline script, based on the Umbrial and Szlavic scripts:

Letter IPA Name	А а /a/ /a/	Б б /b/ /bə/	В в /v/ /və/	Г г /ɡ/ /ɡə/	Д д /d/ /də/	Ѓ ѓ /ɟ/ /ɟə/	Е е /ɛ/ /ɛ/	Ж ж /ʒ/ /ʒə/	З з /z/ /zə/	Ѕ ѕ /d͡z/ /d͡zə/	И и /i/ /i/
Letter IPA Name	Ј ј /j/ /jə/	К к /k/ /kə/	Л л /l/ ([ɫ], [l̠]) /lə/	Љ љ /l/ /lə/	М м /m/ /mə/	Н н /n/ /nə/	Њ њ /ɲ/}} /ɲə/	О о /ɔ/ /ɔ/	П п /p/ /pə/	Р р /r/ /rə/	С с /s/ /sə/
Letter IPA Name	Т т /t/ /tə/	Ќ ќ /c/ /cə/	У у /u/ /u/	Ф ф /f/ /fə/	Х х /x/ /xə/	Ц ц /t͡s/ /t͡sə/	Ч ч /t͡ʃ/ /t͡ʃə/	Џ џ /d͡ʒ/}} /d͡ʒə/	Ш ш /ʃ/ /ʃə/

It is also used by Iolanthi people in Osynstric and Umbrial languages:

Umbrial-Luceline alphabet (For both Osynstric and Umbrial)

Letters	Aa	Бб	Чч	Дд	Ee	Фф	Гг	Хх	Ии	Џџ	Кк	Лл	Мм	Нн	Оо	Пп	Рр	Сс	Шш	Тт	Уу	Вв	Ўў	Ққ	Јј	Зз
Translit.	Aa	Bb	Cc	Dd	Ee	Ff	Gg	Hh	Ii	Jj	Kk	Ll	Mm	Nn	Oo	Pp	Rr	Shi	Ss	Tt	Uu	Vv	Ww	Xx	Yy	Zz

Additional

Letters	Ээ	Ңң	Цц	Жж	Ћћ	Ꚋꚋ
Translit.	ä	ng	ts	zh	th	dh

Expatriates easily learn and usually rely on Osynstric to interact with everyday Iolanthi people. Even Umbrial-speaking expats from Imperium Suavidci prefer to have Osynstric as a secondary language.

Iolanthe is multilingual. According to a 2018 survey, 51% (477,419) can speak Umbrial, 30% (280,834) can speak Mercanti, and 19% (177,862) can speak any Scalvian language (Vaigan, Selonian, and/or Taurogan).

Culture

National anthem

Thee, Iolanthe is the national anthem of Iolanthe. Originally, it was a four-verse poem written in 1764 by Alexander Morgan, 12th Earl Lucilin to express his newfound love for Iolanthe. It was first sung during the visit of Grand Doge TBD in on 28 June 1820. The score was composed by Fr. Dionisos Matesij.

In most public occassions, only the first and last verses are sung. The second verse is usually sung at important state events like the swearing-in of the prime minister and Independence Day.

Lyrics:

When sun rays crown thy pine clad hills,
And summer spreads her hand,
When silvern voices tune thy rills,
We love thee, smiling land.

Iolanthe, Iolanthe
We love thee, smiling land.

When spreads thy cloak of shimmering white,
At winter's stern command,
Thro' shortened day, and starlit night,
We love thee, frozen land.

Iolanthe, Iolanthe
We love thee, frozen land.

When blinding storm gusts fret thy shore,
And wild waves lash thy strand,
Thro' spindrift swirl, and tempest roar,
We love thee, windswept land.

Iolanthe, Iolanthe
We love thee, windswept land.

As loved our fathers, so we love,
Where once they stood, we stand;
Their prayer we raise to Heaven above,
God guard thee, Iolanthe

Iolanthe, Iolanthe,
God guard thee, Iolanthe.